The Texas A&M Aggies played their “national championship” (of the Republic of Texas) yesterday. They played well. They fought valiantly. They left everything they had on the field.

And…they lost.

The Texas Longhorns narrowly escaped their matchup with Texas A&M, 49-39. Some will hold that against them, since the Aggies are now a mere 6-6. Those who do so either do not understand the dynamics of such a rivalry, the hostility of that environment, or they didn’t see the game.

Great teams find a way to win, even when an upset is in the air. Upset was in the air at Kyle Field last night. The air was thick with it. The crowd could taste every time they kissed in celebration of another Aggie score.

There were plenty of Aggie scores for one primary reason: His name is Jerrod Johnson. The Aggie quarterback was simply brilliant. By halftime, Johnson had thrown for 199 yards and three touchdowns. He completed 13 of his 15 passes in the first half, too. He was improvising masterfully, throwing accurately, and making timely plays, time after time.

Trouble for Johnson was this: as good as he was, Colt McCoy was better. Colt matched Johnson blow for blow and then one-upped him with a masterful half-ending drive to send Texas to the locker room with a 28-21 lead.

By game’s end, Colt McCoy was 24 of 40 for 304 yards. He threw four touchdown passes. He also ran for 175 yards on 18 carries, including a game-breaking 65-yard TD scamper right through the heart of the A&M defense.

Said Mack Brown after the game, “If anybody has a better Heisman moment than that, I would like to see it.”

Me too.

Colt was big time in prime time and he almost single-handedly willed a vulnerable, exhausted, shell-shocked Longhorns football team to victory.

Gene has been an avid Dallas Cowboys fan for nearly five decades, which amounts to just about his entire life. The only time he was not a Cowboys fan was that brief period at the beginning of his life, when he didn't have all his baby teeth and could not yet say "Cowboys." As soon as quit slobbering, he started hollering, "Go Cowboys!"